The Routledge Handbook of Hindu Temples: Materiality, Social History and Practice

This handbook is a comprehensive study of the archaeology, social history and the cultural landscape of the Hindu temple. Perhaps the most recognizable of the material forms of Hinduism, temples are lived, dynamic spaces. They are significant sites for the creation of cultural heritage, both in the past and in the present.

Drawing on historiographical surveys and in-depth case studies, the volume centres the material form of the Hindu temple as an entry point to study its many adaptations and transformations from the early centuries CE to the 20th century. It highlights the vibrancy and dynamism of the shrine in different locales and studies the active participation of the community for its establishment, maintenance and survival.

The illustrated handbook takes a unique approach by focusing on the social base of the temple rather than its aesthetics or chronological linear development. It fills a significant gap in the study of Hinduism and will be an indispensable resource for scholars of archaeology, Hinduism, Indian history, religious studies, museum studies, South Asian history and Southeast Asian history.

Chapters 1, 4 and 5 of this book are available for free in PDF format as Open Access from the individual product page at www.routledge.com. They have been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Himanshu Prabha Ray is Research Fellow at Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, Oxford, UK. She was the first Chairperson of the National Monuments Authority, Ministry of Culture in New Delhi, India, from 2012 to 2015, and former Professor at Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Her research interests cover Archaeology of Religion in Asia, Maritime History and Archaeology of the Indian Ocean. Her recent books include Coastal Shrines and Transnational Maritime Networks Across India and Southeast Asia (2021), Archaeology and Buddhism in South Asia (2018), Buddhism and Gandhara: An Archaeology of Museum Collections (ed. 2018), The Archaeology of Sacred Spaces: The Temple in Western India, 2nd Century BCE to 8th Century CE (with Susan Verma Mishra, 2017), The Return of the Buddha: Ancient Symbols for a New Nation (2014) and The Archaeology of Seafaring in Ancient South Asia (2003).

Salila Kulshreshtha is Visiting Assistant Professor of History and Art and Art History at New York University Abu Dhabi. She secured her PhD degree in history from Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and is the author of From Temple to Museum: Colonial Collections and Uma Mahesvara Icons in the Middle Ganga Valley (2018). She has worked on issues of urban heritage and heritage education with the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) (2004) and with the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Mumbai City Museum, Mumbai (2011-2012). She has taught Art history, History and Humanities in Mumbai at Rizvi College of Architecture and Indian Education Society’s College of Architecture (2012-2013) and in the USA at the Old Dominion University and Virginia Wesleyan College (2005-2007). She is currently based in Dubai. Her research interests include religious iconography, colonial archaeology and museum collections.

Uthara Suvrathan completed her MA and MPhil degrees in Jawaharlal Nehru University and her PhD degree in University of Michigan. She works at the intersection of archaeology and history to examine the organization of polities and places on the margins of larger states and empires in premodern South Asia. She is also interested in archaeological approaches to landscape studies and in issues of premodern trade and contact across the Indian Ocean. In addition, she works on issues of museum education, public outreach and the digital humanities, with a particular interest in the sharing of information among researchers, and between academics and the wider public. She is currently Assistant Professor at Aziz Premji University, Bengaluru, India.